Literature Study

Katrina was a crisis primarily because of its scale and the mixture of challenges that it posed, not least the failure of the levees in New Orleans. Because of the novelty of a crisis, predetermined emergency plans and response behavior that may function quite well in dealing with routine emergencies are frequently grossly inadequate or even counterproductive. That proved true in New Orleans, for example, in terms of evacuation planning, law enforcement, rescue activities, sheltering, and provisions for the elderly and infirm.

Natural Disasters are very difficult to control and they most often create divided opinion among citizens of states. Authorities are always at crossroads with the citizens when trying to implement policies that are likely to force homeowners to evacuate when natural disaster is looming. Implementing forceful arrest and evacuation of people who are unwilling to leave during natural disasters is a good policy which will simply protect lives and valuable properties of victims. Since the aftermath of natural disasters cannot be predicted, it becomes necessary to evacuate, albeit, forcefully, as smaller potential natural disasters can turn

Outcome: Evacuation proved to be challenging because local, state, and federal governments were confused about which level of government was responsible for the second round of evacuation. Local/state governments were under the impression that the federal government should spearhead the evacuation efforts; likewise, the federal government was under the impression that the local/state government should spearhead the evacuation. Ultimately, it is a shared effort among all levels of governments but this was not clarified before the response phase.

During the crisis at Memorial, doctors and nurses had to find ways of quickly and efficiently moving ill patients when “the hurricane knocked out power and running water and sent the temperatures inside above 100 degrees” (Fink 1). If these nurses, doctors and staff were given an evacuation plan before the storm, they could have practiced it and would not have had to spontaneously make up a plan that no one was familiar with. During college students are always roaming campus and are vulnerable to terrible events happening, this real world situation at Memorial has definitely shown me that anything can happen and there should be plans arranged for each situation whether it is a snowstorm or a gunman on campus. Two main topics that popped up when I read Deadly Choices at Memorial were to always have a plan and work well in teams; if there ever were a shooter on campus, students should be aware and know of the safety plan and work together to make sure everyone was

The government made plans for the removal of citizens from “evacuable” areas to “reception” areas a couple of months before the main evacuation period in September. Source A1, which is information taken from a Public Information leaflet issued by the government,

Editor’s Note: This Chapter is the continuation of an adaptation of a state plan for disaster preparation and response. In total, the original chapter comprises Chapters 1, 14, 16-18.

Furthermore, there is not enough consideration to whether the public is willing to accept the risk of not securing LPHC targets. Public opinion has the power to sway policy making. However, the department has two critical analytic challenges and the first is prioritizing resources most effectively to prepare and prevent the hazards. This includes natural and technological hazards. The very nature of terrorism is a difficult hazard to properly characterize. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security must develop policies that help at the community and general pubic levels. In developing policies at the general public level evacuation plans will be in place to avert much of the panic (Eller, Gerber

One method to determine disaster risk prioritization is to conduct risk and vulnerability assessments (Kapucu & Özerdem, 2013). Secondly, surveys can be given to citizens to determine how knowledgeable they are about what to do if a disaster was to occur. This could be crucial in disaster risk prioritization because if there is a noticeable disconnect in what to do should a disaster

The City of New Orleans, Louisiana was particularly vulnerable to the ramifications of Hurricane Katrina. Despite all of the forewarnings, determinants such as socioeconomic status influenced resident’s ability to evacuate their homes. Additionally, topography of the region increased the capability for destruction as nearly half of the city, on average, lays six feet below sea level and is surrounded by water.

The evacuation was initiated before the storms and people who owned vehicles left the city on their own, however, 28 percent of

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) coordinates the federal government's position in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, which now including acts of terror. FEMA leads and supports the nation in a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery and mitigation. A key component of community preparedness and participation is the citizen. The CERT program strives to familiarize citizens with the facts about what to expect following a major disaster in their community and to deliver the message about their responsibility for mitigation and preparedness. CERT educates individuals

Finally, sources three shows the success in evacuation as the sources show effectiveness and good organisation as a success of evacuation. This encompasses overall efficiency and pre-evacuation planning. To be able to transport the huge amount of 1million (intended 4million) to the countryside required this efficiency and overall, sources three and source two mention the efficiency and order of the transport (trains) and organisation in the countryside. In source three, a newspaper article from Kent, says that the departures were efficient, reflecting that it was seen to that ‘each child got milk and food’, and followed up with ‘no confusion’. Even source two, though showing evacuation in a negative way, also comments that the trains ‘ran to time’ and that evacuation came ‘complete with teachers’. Having teachers is shown in sources one, three and four as well. In source one, it is shown as a teacher with a group of children, in three there are mentioned ‘teachers in charge’ and in four, the graph shows about 103,000 teachers were evacuated. The fact that they were able to organise having teachers for the children,

Public coordination and compliance to follow mandatory orders can be critical when achieving effectiveness and efficiency in emergency evacuations. The purpose of this report is to review and critique the research article named ‘African Americans’ decision not to evacuate New Orleans before hurricane Katrina: a qualitative study’, published in American Journal of Public Health. The research study was to relate both individual reasons and psychosocial factors with African Americans’ reaction towards disaster evacuations. Generally, the research reached reasonable conclusions

The one problem that occurred was the large volume of evacuee’s that left when they did not need to. Many residents of Houston who were clearly out of the storm surge range evacuated anyway, thus making the departure and return time consuming. Thus, causing a delay in reopening for business due to lack of employees who had returned. Those employees who evacuated lost almost a week without pay, plus the cost of evacuating. A change in the plan could include a savings fund for hourly employees in the event this occurs again. Counseling could be offered to those who felt the frustration of evacuation or to those who had friends/family in the affected

Risk for disasters is a part of life; emergency situations occur more frequently than many people believe. A wise person plans for the worse, and hopes for the best. After a disaster, how well a community can recover will depend largely on how well they prepared in advance. Risk management includes identifying any potential risks to a community and proactively planning to minimize the threat. Proactive organization of resources and people to respond to emergencies can mean the difference between a community’s ability to regroup and recover, and the loss of life. To better